Congress Rejects Taxpayer Funding for LGBT Center Hosting Sex Parties

$1 million was earmarked for the center which had hosted drag parties in which children participated.

Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor and Democratic candidate for U.S. Senator John Fetterman speaks at a reception for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in Philadelphia on Oct. 28, 2022. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Congress dropped funding for an LGBT center in Pennsylvania after it came to light that the place hosted sexual fetish parties, with Democrat lawmakers who sought the funding withdrawing their support.

The House of Representatives was set to vote on a spending bill on Wednesday that earmarked $1 million for the William Way LGBTQ Community Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. William Way’s funding sparked controversy, with social commentator Libs of TikTok highlighting the issue of sex parties through an X post that went viral.

The LGBT center “boasts rooms to try BDSM and sex fetishes and hosts BDSM and sex kink parties. There’s even a kink party happening there this weekend!” Libs of TikTok said in a March 5 X post. Sens. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) “are the ones who requested this funding. Absolutely sick that our tax dollars would fund this!”

In a letter to the Senate Committee on Appropriations dated March 5, Mr. Fetterman said he was withdrawing support for funding the center and asked that the spending allocation be removed.

Mr. Fetterman justified withdrawing support for the program in a March 6 statement. “Unfortunately, at the 11th hour my staff was made aware that funding for William Way, which was in the bill because I championed it, would not pass the FY24 appropriations process.”

“The choice was either to pull it or watch it get stripped out, attacked by Republicans and ultimately killed. This is not the end of this fight and I am going to fight for William Way to secure their funding in the FY25 appropriations process. I’m new here, but I wasn’t aware that Democratic values and priorities are dictated by Libs of TikTok.”

The senator went on to claim he doesn’t believe the center should be penalized based on what happens between “consenting adults” at the place.

In an interview with Politico, Mr. Casey confirmed he withdrew support for funding William Way. “We made a decision upon receiving new information yesterday—and only yesterday—to not support the appropriation,” he said on Wednesday. “We have new information that caused me to decide to pull support for the earmark.”

A spokesperson for the senator said that the lawmaker “will continue to support the LGBTQ community” in the state of Pennsylvania and that “consenting adults have the right to do whatever they want in their free time.”

However, “these types of appropriations projects warrant the highest level of scrutiny on behalf of taxpayers. Senator Casey withdrew his request for federal funding when new information about the third-party use of the facility emerged.”

The spending package was passed by the House on Wednesday. It did not include $1 million for the William Way center, according to the outlet.

LGBT Center Events

William Way claimed that the funding was aimed at renovating and expanding their headquarters. The organization said it was “disappointed” about the funding withdrawal, blaming it on “lies and distortions about our Center shared by political extremists.”

“These extremists falsely stated that sexual behavior is allowed in rental programs of the Center, which is inaccurate and against our Center’s code of conduct,” it stated.

A program called “The Aviary” is scheduled to be held at the William Way Center one Saturday each month from March to July this year. The event describes itself as “Philadelphia’s friendliest and longest running kink and fetish party.”

“The Aviary is an all-inclusive social party for any and all that wish to come and participate, with an emphasis on Kink Lifestyle themes.”

A 2016 Philadelphia Gay News article describes a drag event at William Way in which an 11-year-old boy and an 8-year-old boy participated.

The $1 million earmarked for William Way was one of the over 6,000 allocations in the House spending bill. In a March 6 X post, Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) complained that lawmakers lack time to examine the contents of the bill.

“There are over 6,000 earmarks in the bill, costing taxpayers a total of $12.7 billion. There is no way any mortal could actually vet all of the earmarks in the 48-hour time period they’ve given us so far,” he wrote.

In an interview with Fox News, Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) said that “earmarks are basically, it’s congressional crack … Congressional opium—and opium is O-P-M, other people’s money. Congress is hooked on it.”

“You get people to vote for it, you increase spending, increased borrowing, you send our nation further down the track of fiscal irresponsibility.”

Funding for William Way was earlier stripped off by House Republicans back in July. At the time, Mr. Fetterman had lashed out at Republican lawmakers.

“Republicans in the House voted to strip funding from two LGBTQ Centers in Pennsylvania BECAUSE they were LGBTQ centers. They literally struck all programs with the letters “L G B T and Q.” This is just flat out, mask-off bigotry,” he said in a July 19 X post.

The lawmaker later on used the Senate version of the bill to secure funding for William Way.

Republicans in the House of Representatives have successfully blocked multiple other LGBT funding measures. For instance, GOP lawmakers threw out an $850,000 initiative to build LGBT housing units in Boston. A $970,000 LGBT housing program in Pennsylvania was stripped off as well.